FBI pushes campaign to end hoax threats on social media

FBI pushes campaign to end hoax threats on social media

Jun. 08, 2018

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The FBI is urging people to "think before you post" a hoax on social media that purports to threaten a school.

At an Albuquerque news conference Thursday, local FBI officials said agents see a surge in threats intended as hoaxes or a joke after school shootings with a high-number of fatalities — such as in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas, this year.

Christine M. Paz, an assistant special agent in charge for the FBI in Albuquerque, says the intent of the campaign is to inform young people who may be thinking of calling in a hoax to think "long and hard" before ruining their lives.

She says federal charges stemming from threats can carry a maximum federal sentence of five years in prison.